Polish Briefing: Debate on the increase of the fuel fee. Ukrainians will stay in Poland

What goes in Poland on 13th of July.

Debate on the increase of the fuel fee

A group of the ruling party’s MPs submitted to the Sejm a new bill on the Fund for Local Roads, which introduces a new road fee added to the fuel price. The sole announcement about the increase in fuel prices sparked a lot of controversy among the public opinion and the opposition. The first reading of the project was conducted at the Sejm on Wednesday. The goal of the Fund is to subsidize the construction and reconstruction of local roads and bridges on regional roads. The Fund will be paid for with money from an increased fuel fee by PLN 20 groszy (cents) a liter.

The project promoters estimate that the fuel fee will bring ca. PLN 4-5 million a year. Half of the money will go to the Fund for Local Roads, while the rest will be spent by the National Road Fund.

Ukrainians will stay in Poland

As of June, the citizens of Ukraine are allowed to travel within the EU without a visa for up to 90 days. A survey titled “Visa waiver program for Ukraine,” which included over 2 thousand people revealed that 58% of Ukraine’s citizens who live in Poland were not planning to leave to a different Member State.

According to the forecast published by the Ukrainian Analytical Center, 2 million Ukrainians will be legally working in Poland by the end of the current year. This is double what it was last year when over a million employer declarations on their will to hire a foreigner were issued.

Assumptions for energy policy

“Coal mining is and will be the foundation of the country’s energy balance at least until 2030. Perhaps this will continue until as far as 2050. It is necessary to use our own deposits to ensure the country’s energy independence and competitiveness of the Polish economy,” said Grzegorz Tobiszowski, Vice-Minister of Energy.

Tobiszowski discussed the assumptions of the country’s energy policy with the Tripartite Team for Miners’ Social Security. The talks focused on the projects for brown and black coal mining. According to the presented plans the participation of the mining sector in the Polish energy mix will be at at least 60% until 2030. “This doesn’t mean that energy production in coal fueled power plants will drop. In this regard we are expecting an increase in quantity. However, we need to take into consideration a significant increase in demand for energy both in the Polish economy at large and in households. This growth will be covered by the rest of the Polish mix: gas, renewable energy sources (especially offshore wind farms) and nuclear energy, whose fate will be decided by the end of the year,” explained Tobiszowski at a press conference after the meeting.

Polish-Vietnamese cooperation

“The Foreign Trade Office of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH) in Vietnam started cooperation with the Long Hau Corporation Industrial Park,” announced the Agency’s press office. This will make it easier for Polish companies to establish relations with potential partners in Vietnam.

Piotr Harasimowicz, the head of the PAIH Foreign Trade Office in Ho Chi Minh City, said that the Agency was especially counting on a more intensive cooperation in the textile industry. According to PAIH “the industrial sector that is attracting foreign investors is one of the first partners of the Vietnamese Office, which was opened in Ho Chi Minh City in December 2016.”